Wish upon the Stars chapter 48

I met up with Skanda after and we headed back to the crafting hall  where I said goodbye before going to meet up with the girls. The next  day I managed to officially hit G rank. It turned out I got a point of  Might from beating that golem. I got two points of Fantasy, a point of  Perception, and a point of Focus out of my second day at the crafting  hall, bringing me up to one hundred, though I waited until we got back  to the tower and I was in my room to let myself rank up.

I laid down in my bed and confirmed the message. A threshold has been reached. Begin rank up? I was curious what this would feel like. As soon as I confirmed it I  felt a thump of pressure and slammed down into the bed. I felt like I  weighed a thousand pounds, like I was made of lead. I blinked in panic  for a second before my body adjusted to the new Impact and my panicked  breathing eased.

That  had been...intense. I'd barely noticed my first rank up, but I imagine  that was because it had been one point versus ten. My Impact had  multiplied six times instead of twice over. I should have expected a big  change when I ranked up but hey, live and learn. Still, I felt the same  sense as last time but cranked up to eleven. I felt denser, more real.  It was pretty damn nice. I grinned and pulled up my stat sheet.

Wishmaster   candidate status. G-rank. Ability: Beginner Wish- Five times a day grant  a Beginner wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly   achievable by the candidate's own efforts within a three day period  with  current statistics.

Might-16
Impact-12
Fantasy-14
Vitality-12
Focus-15
Perception-23
Creation-18

Skills:   Lesser Doom Sovereign Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Cooking   Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar   Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery, Lesser Enchanting Mastery, Minor   Inventing Mastery, Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor   Boxing Mastery

I  couldn't stop fucking grinning. G rank. I was officially one step up on  the power ladder. Considering how many of the people around here were G  ranked, I certainly felt much safer, not to mention the Heartripper  Society was made up of low profile people so most of them would be G  rank too. I was much safer now than I had been before, but more  importantly I was now only three points of Fantasy away from being able  to grant Benny the wish for his ability. Actually...that gave me an  idea.

I spun up my scan ring and  called my friend in. It only took him a minute to get over to my room  and I let him in. I spread my arms. "Notice anything different about  me?" I was admittedly kind of smug about the whole rank up thing, but I  was pretty sure it was warranted. I had just Ascended to a higher level  of being. Unfortunately not being an Ascendant himself that was  apparently not obvious to Benny, who just looked at me like I was an  idiot. I rolled my eyes. "I ranked up moron, this is me as a G ranker."

He  looked me over skeptically. "You do look...I don't know...fatter?" I  glared at him and he snickered. I was guessing ten impact wasn't enough  for a mortal to notice, I wondered how high it had to be before it  became obvious to them. Though maybe they just didn't have the  Perception. Either that or Zeke had some way of hiding his because I'd  never noticed as a kid. I was figuring the latter because Stella  couldn't tell what rank he was either. I'd have to try to weasel that  little trick out of him, might come in handy someday.

Benny's  face lit up. "So it's time? You can finally give me an ability?" His  eyes lit up with fervor, and I didn't blame him. Being an Ascendant was  pretty fantastic, and I wanted that for him. He'd been watching us all  get stronger since we got here, not to mention seeing me leave him  behind when I first got my power, even if temporarily. The whole thing  with Stricture must have been awful for him.

I  put up a hand and waggled it back and forth. "Not the one you wished  for originally. I have a theory though. Your original wish for an  ability included a ton of Fantasy. I think that whatever your natural  ability would be has Fantasy in it. But I also think you can wish for a  different one. I have a ton of Perception, and a pretty decent spread of  everything else. If you wish for a new ability that I can actually give  you I bet I have the stats to manage SOMETHING. I'm not sure what it'll  be, but then, I don't know what your original ability would have been."

He  bit his lip. "Fantasy seems like a rough one to raise based on what you  said anyway." He blinked. "Oh, I can just word it so that I get the  best possible option for me that you can manage as you are. I'll end up  with something suited for me, probably better than the original power I  would have gotten anyway." He was getting pretty good at this, and I was  glad to see him using his head.

Still  I had to warn him at least. "Giving you a second power will be WAY down  the line if I can ever do it. And I don't think changing it will be  easy either. Second powers are rare as hell, so there would be a huge  price, and I don't know anything about changing powers but I can't  imagine it'll be easy. You'll be stuck with whatever you get for the  foreseeable future. If you wait a few days you can try for your original  power, it might be better. Are you sure you want to do this now?" I was  impatient too, so I understood, but this was a big decision.

He  shook his head. "No. I have a better chance of getting something useful  to me if I wish for a suitable power than I do with the random ability I  was born with. Hell, most people never get this chance, and the massive  gap in Impact between is is probably the only reason it would even  work. Actually, would that gap make my original wish cheaper?" It  actually might, and I opened my mouth to tell him that, but he waved it  off. "Never mind, that makes the wish for a suitable power an even  better option."

I  winced. "There's another thing to consider. We need some kind of  payment for you. Admittedly I think the rank gap will make the wish less  valuable so probably nothing crazy, but you'll need to pay with  something." This had been something I'd worried about for a while  actually. Benny needed to pay with something he earned himself and he  didn't exactly have deep pockets out here.

He  grinned at me. "Oh, that won't be a problem. One minute." He bolted out  of the room and came back a few minutes later with a duffel bag. He  unzipped the top, rifling through it before shrugging and shoving the  whole thing at me. "I wish you could give me the most suitable ability  that you currently have the stats to grant me. In exchange I offer a  whole bag full of I rank inventions. Everything I've ever made except  for Tock, who I'm actually super attached to at this point." He gave a  wry grin as he said that last part.

Wish detected. Grant wish? I confirmed. Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 48 Might, 36 Vitality, 36 Impact, 54 Creation. I  whistled. He had asked for the strongest possible power I had the stats  to give him, so it made sense he would have maxed out my potential  values for those stats, but still, it was a whopper. The Impact alone  was absolutely insane, and it occurred to me giving someone a new power  might be more expensive than awakening one they already had.

It  looked like it was a valid wish though, and it didn't ask for  compensation so his offering was good enough. I felt the wish begin to  build as usual, that same static charge as before, but this time I saw  tiny flickers of actual purple electricity across my skin. My every cell  was buzzing with power, this was going to be the biggest wish I'd ever  granted hands down. I was just glad that those inventions were enough,  they must mean a lot to him, and were probably valuable in their own  too.

I  gestured to the bed. "Remember the skill thing? This will be so much  worse." The only saving grace was that he was obviously going to be  getting some stats in Might and Vitality to support his power so that  should reinforce him enough along with the Impact to be ok. He had  wished for the most suitable ability after all, and I was pretty sure  making your head explode made something unsuitable, even compared to a  weaker ability. He laid down and I initiated the wish. I'd been holding  it back subconsciously so he could get ready, but once I let it  loose...wow.

An  arc of literal purple lightning erupted from my hands and SMASHED into  Benny, pinning him to the bed. He gritted his teeth, not screaming but  clearly uncomfortable as his body shook. It felt like I had connected a  fucking circuit, energy flowing from me to him then back to me, ramping  up constantly. His payment connected the circuit on his end, and my  ability on mine, and I suddenly understood how the whole three times  modifier worked. The Wish ability was perfectly balanced to create a  feedback loop, I'd just never granted and wishes big enough to feel it  before.

The  wish dragged on for what felt like an hour before it finally faded and I  slumped to the ground bonelessly. Benny was lying down so it was fine,  but this had been my absolute limit for most of my stats and I could  FEEL that. I was pretty sure the Impact had patched some holes in the  wish too. I probably couldn't have managed his ability without the  amount I had and his lower rank both.

Unlike with skills or anything I got some actual feedback this time from my power. Wish Granted. Ascendant ability unlocked. Minor Iron Hide- Allows the user to transform their skin into a metallic substance. Stat allocation: 1 Impact, 1 Might, 1 Vitality, 1 Creation. I  slumped against the floor, panting with effort, but I had a huge smile  on my sweaty face. Benny was lying back, blinking up at the ceiling. I  waved a hand in front of his face and he jumped.

I  grinned down at him. "So I'm guessing you're checking your stat sheet.  I'll be honest was never sure exactly what that looked like for other  people. Mine is like a rolling purple flame that fills my vision, what  are you seeing?" I helped him to his feet, and he staggered slightly  before finding his balance. I might have overdone it slightly pulling  considering my Might at this point. Not too much though because I did  try to be careful. He regained his footing pretty quickly, so his own  point of Might probably helped.

He  grinned at me. "It's just black letters printed across my vision.  Nothing fancy, but I feel...so different man. This is intense." He  hadn't had those stats before so that made sense. He grinned manically.  "Not to mention I have a point of Focus! I guess I was close enough from  the Inventing skill, which moved up to Lesser with the change, i don't  know if that was stats or if I was just close enough and my mortality  was holding me back." He lunged forward to grip me tight and lifted me  up in a big hug. "So...want to go tell the girls?"